Founded | 1947 |
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Type | International non-governmental organization |
Focus | Optics and photonics |
Location |
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Origins | Founded by optical scientists in 1947 under the leadership of Pierre Fleury |
Area served | Worldwide |
Method | Conferences, Newsletter, reports |
Members | 52 Territorial Committees |
Key people | Roberta Ramponi (President), Angela M. Guzman (Secretary), Yasuhiko Arakawa (Past President), Duncan T. Moore (Past President), Jim Harrington (Treasurer), Gert von Bally (Associate Secretary) |
Website | e-ico |
The International Commission for Optics (ICO) was created in 1947 with the objective to contribute, on an international basis, to the progress and dissemination of the science of optics and photonics and their applications. It emphasises the unity of the crossdisciplinary field of optics.
Optics and photonics are defined as the fields of science and engineering encompassing the physical phenomena and technologies associated with the generation, transmission, manipulation, detection, and utilisation of light. It extends on both sides of the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum as far as the same concepts apply.
In particular, the ICO promotes international cooperation and facilitates the rapid exchange of information, by encouraging and furthering the organisation, on an international basis, of scientific meetings and summer schools. It emphasises actions for the education and training in optics and photonics internationally. It undertakes special actions for the development of optics and photonics in regions where particular support is needed. It strives to improve the recognition of optics and photonics as fields of science with a significant impact on economy. It works also for the promotion of international agreements on nomenclature, units, symbols and standards.
It is a Scientific Associate of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and Affiliated Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).
Among the activities of ICO are the organization and sponsorship of congresses, meetings and schools, and the awarding of prizes to distinguished scientists in optics and photonics. It has a Traveling Lecturer Program, and publishes quarterly the ICO Newsletter, the triennial book series International trends in optics and a Triennial Report.
The mission of the International Commission for Optics is to contribute, on an international basis, to the progress and diffusion of knowledge in the fields of optics and photonics.
In 1946 Europe was at last beginning to recover from the ordeal of World War II. The oldest and largest optics group in Europe was the Institut d'Optique in Paris, which had been founded in 1921 by the distinguished optical physicist Charles Fabry (1867-1945), and the director of the Institut d'Optique, Prof. Pierre Fleury, who had succeeded Fabry in 1945, was eager to resume an active role in European optics. He wrote to his optics colleagues and former students throughout Europe and invited them to participate in a Reunions d'Opticiens in Paris 14–19 October 1946. Scientists from 16 different countries participated in this first post-war European optics conference. The invited papers were by Frank Twyman (of Hilger and Watts) on the production of aspherical surfaces; Louis de Broglie on image formation, Jean Cabannes on the development of optics in France, and Pierre Fleury reviewed the history of the Institut d'Optique and research pursued since 1940. Then followed several days of contributed papers from most of the European optics groups. Many of the participants urged Fleury to seek some mechanism for continued cooperation in the optics community.
Pierre Fleury was already a French representative to IUPAP (the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics), with headquarters in Paris, and he was aware that the statutes of IUPAP provided for the creation of commissions in specific areas of physics; why not a commission for optics? He also determined that UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, with headquarters in Paris) would also be able to provide -through IUPAP- some funds for travel to a Preparatory Meeting in Prague to discuss the formation of an International Commission for Optics.
In January 1947 the General Assembly of IUPAP approved the appointment of a Preparatory Committee, with Prof. Pierre Fleury as Secretary, to consider forming an International Commission for Optics. The preparatory committee met in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 2–7 June 1947, with Prof Josef Hrdlicka as host. Fifteen delegates attended, representing eight countries, (Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden). Replies were received from five other countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, and the USA) that their representatives would be unable to attend, and Argentina and the USSR did not respond.
The attendees agreed that an International Commission for Optics should be formed as a self-governing affiliated commission of IUPAP. Each member country would form a national committee for ICO, which would select that country's representative to the ICO Bureau meetings. A set of provisional Statutes was adopted (patterned after the Statutes of IUPAP), and a provisional bureau was elected, (subject to approval by IUPAP and re-confirmation by the national committees at the first official meeting.) Thomas Smith of London was elected president; Pierre Fleury of Paris, secretary; Albert Arnulf of Paris, treasurer; and Josef Hrdlicka of Prague a vice-president, with two other vice-presidents to be selected at the first official meeting. The delegates decided to hold their first plenary session of ICO in conjunction with the next General Assembly of IUPAP in July 1948 in Amsterdam. (The Dutch delegate, Prof van Heel, invited the ICO to meet at his laboratory in Delft.)
The organizers also formulated the objectives of ICO: the study of optical theory, the theoretical study and construction of optical instruments, and the physiological optics of the eye. The organizers were grateful to both UNESCO and IUPAP for travel, secretarial and publication support during the initial organizational stage, but in order to ensure smooth functioning of ICO in 1948 and beyond it was decided to assess each member country for an annual contribution based on the same population scale used by IUPAP: countries with less than 5 million inhabitants, 1 unit; 5 to 10 million, 2 units; 10 to 15 million, 3 units; 15 to 20 million, 5 units; and greater than 20 million, 8 units.
As tasks to be accomplished in the near term by ICO, each national committee was asked to establish if possible a list of the names and addresses of its optics researchers and also a list of the manufacturers of optical instruments. Each country was also asked to supply a list of their optics publications for the war years 1939–1945.
As a further challenge to the new organization the delegates compiled a list of about 20 technical problem areas in optics. These subjects were assigned to various ICO national committees, with a request that each committee report on its problem at the 1948 meeting in the Netherlands. Most of the problem areas represented the special interests of the delegates present at the preparatory session, and this would provide a quick mechanism to ensure some technical content at the first formal meeting of ICO. Italy (Giuliano Toraldo di Francia) would survey diffraction theory; Great Britain (T. Smith) would survey aberration studies (without diffraction); and France (André Maréchal) and the Netherlands would report on the combined effect of aberrations and diffraction. Sweden (E. Ingelstam) would survey gratings; Great Britain, photographic objectives; and other groups were assigned other tasks. Finally, there would be reports on sign conventions, notation, tolerances and the specification of optical drawings.
In drawing up these assigned tasks the preparatory commission was following the usual format of a commission of a scientific union: stating specific problems to be reported on by the commission. In Prague the founding group had recognized the need for improved international cooperation in optics, had sketched a charter for ICO, and had planned a comprehensive program for the ICO initial meeting in 1948.
The first official meeting of ICO took place 12–17 July 1948 at the Physics Laboratory of the Technische Hogeschool, Delft, Netherlands. Forty-four delegates from eleven countries attended the meetings. At the first session Prof Fleury announced that IUPAP had cordially accepted the affiliation of ICO and had approved the Statutes provisionally adopted at Prague. The appointment of officers elected in 1947 was confirmed, and two additional vice-presidents were elected: S.S. Ballard (USA) and A.C.S. van Heel (Netherlands). Thus the eleven countries represented at Delft became the founding member countries of the ICO; Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
In addition to the sessions devoted to reports on the problem areas that had been assigned at Prague, the participants heard four invited lectures: by M. Françon (France); T. Smith (Great Britain); D.B. Judd (USA); and A.C.S. van Heel (Netherlands). On the first day of the meeting Prof van Heel hosted a reception at his home, and on the last evening the group held a formal dinner. During the week there were several local visits to research laboratories: de Oude Delft; the Kammerlingh-Onnes Laboratory in Leiden; the Philips Research Labs at Eindhoven; van Cittert's collection of historical optical instruments at Utrecht; and the optics and electron optics laboratories of the Technische Hogeschool, Delft. This sort of mixing of technical reports and social activities is important in building a sense of community among the attendees.
The principal work at the meeting was the presentation of detailed reports on the topics that had been assigned at Prague. These reports occupied most of the six technical sessions. The delegates also agreed that ICO should not act as a vehicle for publishing original research papers. Full use should be made of existing scientific journals..The delegates agreed that one of the roles of ICO should be to sponsor conferences at which sets of invited papers are given on some specialized field or fields of optics.
At the final session President Thomas Smith announced that he had been authorized to invite the ICO to hold the next meeting in 1950 in London. This announcement was accepted by acclamation.
The ICO Congresses are held every three years; they include a General Business Meeting as requested by the statutes and a Scientific Meeting that covers most of research topics in optics and photonics. Dates and locations of ICO Congresses:
(preliminary meetings had been held in Czechoslovakia and France).
The provenience of ICO financial resources are the contributions from its members.
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(A) Associate member
International Societies | Since | Units | Votes |
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African Laser, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences Network (LAM Network) | 2002 | 1 | 1 |
European Optical Society | 1999 | 1 | 1 |
IEEE Photonics Society | 2000 | 2 | 2 |
International Society on Optics Within Life Science (OWLS) | 2000 | 1 | 1 |
The Optical Society | 1999 | 5 | 3 |
Iberian American Network of Optics | 2014 | 1 | 1 |
SPIE | 2000 | 5 | 3 |
The ICO Prize was established in 1982 and is presented annually to a person who has made a noteworthy contribution to Optics before reaching the age of 40.
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This award for the essential missions to recognize the promotion of Optics under difficult circumstances. It was established in 1993 by General Assembly of ICO, and has been awarded annually since 1994.
List of the award winners: [2]
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the application of physics toward solving problems of concern to humanity. It was established in 1922 and the first General Assembly was held in 1923 in Paris. The Union is domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland.
Gérard Albert Mourou is a French scientist and pioneer in the field of electrical engineering and lasers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, along with Donna Strickland, for the invention of chirped pulse amplification, a technique later used to create ultrashort-pulse, very high-intensity (petawatt) laser pulses.
Robert Gaston André Maréchal was a French researcher and administrator in optics.
The Institut d'optique Graduate School, nicknamed SupOptique or IOGS, is a graduate school of Paris-Saclay University and ParisTech.
The European Optical Society (EOS), founded in 1991, is a European organisation for the development of the science of optics. Membership is open to national optical societies, individuals, companies, organisations, educational institutions, and learned and professional societies. EOS runs international conferences; lobbies for optical science at European level; offers a focus for collecting and disseminating knowledge in the field, and publishes the online journal JEOS:RP.
Asher A. Friesem is a professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Min Gu is a Chinese-Australian physicist who currently serves as the Executive Chancellor and Professor at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Previously he was Distinguished Professor and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research Innovation & Entrepreneurship at RMIT University.
Joseph Wilfred Goodman is an American electrical engineer and physicist.
Anthony Michael Johnson is an American experimental physicist, a professor of physics, and a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He is the director of the Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research (CASPR), also situated on campus at UMBC. Since his election to the 2002 term as president of the Optical Society, formerly the Optical Society of America, Johnson has the distinction of being the first and only African-American president to date. Johnson's research interests include the ultrafast photophysics and nonlinear optical properties of bulk, nanostructured, and quantum well semiconductor structures, ultrashort pulse propagation in fibers and high-speed lightwave systems. His research has helped to better understand processes that occur in ultrafast time frames of 1 quadrillionth of a second. Ultrashort pulses of light have been used to address technical and logistical challenges in medicine, telecommunications, homeland security, and have many other applications that enhance contemporary life.
Colin James Richard Sheppard, usually cited as C. J. R. Sheppard, is senior scientist at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, Italy. His areas of research are in optics, microscopy and imaging, including confocal and multiphoton microscopy, diffraction, 3D imaging and reconstruction, superresolution, beam propagation, and pulse propagation.
Abraham Katzir is a Professor of Physics at Tel Aviv University, holding the Carol and Mel Taub Chair in Applied Medical Physics. He is the son of Professor Aharon Katzir, also a scientist, who was killed in 1972 in Ben-Gurion Airport by Japanese terrorists. His uncle, Professor Ephraim Katzir, was the President of Israel.
Andrea Alù is an Italian American scientist and engineer, currently Einstein Professor of Physics at The City University of New York Graduate Center. He is known for his contributions to the fields of optics, photonics, plasmonics, and acoustics, most notably in the context of metamaterials and metasurfaces. He has co-authored over 650 journal papers and 35 book chapters, and he holds 11 U.S. patents.
David A. B. Miller is the W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where he is also a professor of Applied Physics by courtesy. His research interests include the use of optics in switching, interconnection, communications, computing, and sensing systems, physics and applications of quantum well optics and optoelectronics, and fundamental features and limits for optics and nanophotonics in communications and information processing.
Pablo Artal is a Spanish physicist and full professor specialized in optics at the University of Murcia, as well as in the development and application of new techniques in human vision research. He is the founder and director of the Optics Lab at Murcia University and received the Spanish National Research award "Juan de la Cierva" and the Rey Jaime I Award for New Technologies in 2015. His main research topics are the optics of the eye and the retina and the development of optical and electronic imaging techniques in the field of biomedicine, ophtalmology and vision. He has contributed to the advance of methods for the study of the optics of the eye and contributed to the understanding of the factors that limit the resolution of the human vision. Moreover, his discoveries and ideas have been applied to instruments and devices used in the clinical practice of ophthalmology.
The Swiss Society for Optics and Microscopy (SSOM) (French: Société Suisse d'Optique et de Microscopie Électronique (SSOME); German: Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Optik und Elektronmikroskopie (SGOEM)) is a learned society for the promotion of optics and microscopy (and more recently nanotechnology) in Switzerland.
Joseph J.M. Braat is a Dutch optics engineer and scientist. Between 1973 and 1998 he worked at Philips Research Laboratories. He was professor of optics at Delft University of Technology between 1998 and 2008.
Philippe Bouyer is a French physicist, researcher and director at the Laboratory for Photonics, Numerics and Nano-sciences in Talence, France. He is also co-founder of Muquans, a company specialized in quantum technology-based gravity meters. He is deputy director of the Institut d'Optique Graduate School and Editor in Chief of the new AVS Quantum Science journal from AIP Publishing and the American Vacuum Society.
Chinese Optical Society is a professional association of individuals with an interest in optics and photonics. It sponsored the Chinese Optics Letters, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on optics. As of 2019, the society has 21 specialized committees and 7 working committees with more than 15,000 individual members.
Sophie Brasselet is a French optical physicist whose research interests include nonlinear optics, the optical and fluorescent properties of biomolecules, the optical manipulation of molecules, and the development of instrumentation for biological imaging, over scales ranging from single molecules to multi-cellular tissues. She is a director of research for the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the director of the Fresnel Institute in Marseille (France) also affiliated with the Mosaic advanced photonics group within the institute.
Abraham Cornelis Sebastiaan "Bram" van Heel was a Dutch professor of physics at the then TH Delft. He is regarded as the 'father of technical optics in the Netherlands'.